Target Elevates Home in New Formats

Posted on June 28, 2011 by HFN Staff

Stacia Andersen

MINNEAPOLIS-Target's home-furnishings departments are playing a key role in the retailer's new PFresh remodels, and will have new opportunities in the CityTarget format and in its expansion into Canada and Puerto Rico, according to Stacia Andersen, senior vice president of merchandising for the retailer's home area.

In an exclusive interview with HFN, Andersen said the PFresh remodels--which feature 10,000 square feet of dedicated grocery space including an open-market grocery, and a 40 percent increase in fresh food merchandise over previous formats--will have a direct impact on the home area by highlighting Target's kitchen-products area.

"If a guest is doing more food shopping with us, we want to provide the total solution," she said. "This will include blenders, gadgets and every other product that goes with food preparation. By adding food, we become more important in the kitchen."

The remodels were first tested in 2008 and have been opening across the nation over the past two years. The company is gearing toward 850 PFresh-remodeled stores by the end of this year.

Announced in February, the CityTarget format will measure from 60,000 to 80,000 square feet and is intended for urban areas, with the first to open in Chicago in 2012. In terms of the home area, Andersen said CityTarget offers an opportunity to tailor the assortment to urban shoppers. "This guest tends to be fashion-forward and live in a small space," she said. "She will see the products she sees in a regular Target in an edited assortment, with an emphasis on the products that will help her deal with her small space." Andersen added that the company is talking to urban shoppers about what assortments will be appropriate in this format.

Andersen also said Target is sounding out consumers in both Canada as to the assortments that would fit best in those stores. The company announced its plans to acquire 220 Zellers locations, is on course to open in these locations beginning in 2013 and has also expressed an interest in entering Puerto Rico. (Yesterday it was announced that Walmart Canada has reached an agreement with Target Canada to assume the leasehold interests in up to 39 sites now operated by Zellers.) The company is looking to open stores in Puerto Rico further down the road.

"Our approach is to customize the assortments so that it's still Target, but customized to those areas," she said.--David Gill